~ Thoughts on Walking the Path of Christian Discipleship

The Ninteenth Paragraph

You have only one moment which is the most beautiful: the present moment (cf. Mt 6:34, Jas 4:13-15). Live it completely in the love of God. If your life is built up like a large crystal from millions of such beautiful moments, it will be a wonderfully beautiful life. Do you see how easy it is? (Cardinal Van Thuan, Five Loaves and Two Fish)

Reflection

Our tendency is to either rush into the future or dwell in the past. It is a discipline to appreciate the present moment and this discipline must be cultivated and worked at but with the maturation of this discipline in our lives comes a fuller awareness of and gratitude for reality as it is and also the gifts of hope, joy and wonder at it all.

At this point an excerpt from the reflection by St. Gregory of Nyssa in today’s Office of Readings (Monday, Fifth Week of Easter) is insightful. The saint is reflecting on living in the awareness of the resurrection of Christ.

‘This is the day the Lord has made’ – a day far different from those made when the world was first created and which are measured by the passage of time. This is the beginning of a new creation. On this day, as the prophet says, God makes a new heaven and a new earth. What is the this new heaven? you may ask. It is the firmament of our faith in Christ. What is this new earth? A good heart, a heart like the earth, which drinks up the rain that falls on it and yields a rich harvest.